Category: samples

jazz at the station, pandemic edition

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

We don’t get around much anymore, as the song goes, and live performances and live audiences are in short supply. But one silver lining to a pandemic is that we sometimes deliver music straight into your home through wires. Jazz at the Station was good enough to host us for a socially distanced performance for their monthly session at Ogden’s Union Station.

On stage in a nearly empty ballroom at Ogden's Union Station.
Performing on the stage of a nearly empty ballroom at Ogden’s Union Station. (Photo credit: Karyn Johnston)

For us, the best part of it all was that we had this moment to get dressed up and play from a stage for an hour, albeit without a physical audience. It was a nice chance to feel like ourselves. While it’s not the same as being there, it was recorded for the public record.

Someday, one day, we’ll see you in person again. We’re looking forward to that.

sausage sampler

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

When we’re working out new songs the process can be just as entertaining as the finished product. It was fun to find and edit snippets here that showed how songs could start out as rhythms or melody lines and just run away from there. And it’s fun to see the comedy that initiates some rehearsal pieces and the fun that ensues.

change is gonna come

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

We don’t have a lot of places to play these days, especially since we want to make sure we keep social distance and only play outside. The good news is that Tim has a patio where there’s shade and a nice breeze. This has been a great way to get together and work on things, new and old. It’s amazing how much easier and more fun this is when we’re all together.

Occasionally we put stuff on our YouTube channel. Mostly, this is just Adam playing around with video editing, anticipating how to run classes in the fall. But it’s also fun to collect the video and have some record of what we’re working on and where we left off.

Most recently, we just felt the need to work on this. Caryn borrowed from Aretha Franklin who’d borrowed from Sam Cooke. It felt right for the moment, a long time coming, and one that will need to extend for a while to come. And we’ll keep playing it. Someday, we hope to play it for you in person.

lovesong

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

Some of what we’ve been working on lately is completely new, and workshopping it online via separate tracks and separate basements has been a real challenge. But recording this track that we’ve already played live was way more straightforward. To me, it feels like something that would be played in a jazz club below street level, martinis and red-globed candles hosted on little round tables.

Lovesong — reappropriating The Cure for a jazz club

people get ready

~ Adam Johnston ~ Leave a comment

We have a few things in our demo recording pipeline, but none of them feel right at the moment.

Instead, we want to share this older demo recording, what was really just a soundcheck in the studio and a completely different take from our live performances of this song. People Get Ready implores us to get on board, no ticket or baggage required.

People Get Ready, studio soundcheck

The music we’re privileged to play is built from jazz and blues traditions that were crafted in slavery and servitude, as well as the civil rights movements that are unfinished. We’re grateful to have the music; and we’re responsible to hold true to its message.